Boosting Aviation Capacity in Jammu and Kashmir
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a major expansion of the Civil Enclave at Srinagar International Airport on February 24, 2026, as part of the government's continued push to modernise regional aviation infrastructure.
Airport expansions of this kind typically involve enlarging terminal capacity, upgrading runway and apron infrastructure, and adding modern passenger-handling facilities to accommodate rising air traffic.
Srinagar has seen a steady rise in passenger footfall in recent years, driven by growing tourism to the Kashmir Valley and improved connectivity under schemes such as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), which had connected 95 airports, heliports, and water aerodromes across 665 routes as of 2026.
Part of a Wider Infrastructure Push in the Same Cabinet Meeting
The same Cabinet meeting also approved enhanced delegation of financial powers to POWERGRID from its existing guidelines, and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs separately cleared three railway multitracking projects covering eight districts across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand, at an estimated cost of ₹9,072 crore, to be completed by 2030-31.
These included doubling of the Gondia-Jabalpur railway line and adding third and fourth lines between Punarakh and Kiul (Bihar) and between Gamharia and Chandil (Jharkhand).
Taken together, these approvals reflect the continued momentum behind India's multimodal connectivity push under the broader PM Gati Shakti framework, spanning aviation, power transmission, and railway capacity expansion in a single Cabinet sitting.
Exam-relevant facts: the Srinagar Civil Enclave expansion approval date (Feb 24, 2026), and the ₹9,072 crore railway multitracking package approved the same day.
